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On a personal level, it usually provides comfort and direction for those who have none, which is why most religious conversions (those not born into it) occur when someone is at a low point in life (prison, drug abuse, divorce, etc). On an organizational level, it can vary from those utilizing it as a form of control (usually political) and economic benefit, to those who are genuine believers performing charity.
There really is no one clear answer to the question, if one looks at it objectively.

The goal I believe was to give societies a sense of moral behavior and social structure. By and large it worked for a while, until secular humanism came along...and then people got lazy again and stopped reading books on humanities and philosophy so religion made a huge comeback.

then terrorism came along and showed everybody just how mental religion can make people and atheism started to REALLY hit it big...

I feel the dark ages proved the goal of the religious elite is control. For most believers, it is a need for a purpose. It caters to intrinsic exceptionalism: we are so special and above all other creatures that a god created us and defined a way for us to live forever. It makes some feel special, like their lives have a more profound meaning above the natural order. Belief is not so bad, but when it is mixed with "religion", it becomes dangerous.

Power and control. It's like you were creating a new drug and feed it to people that are easier to persuade. Once they try the drug and get addicted to it, that becomes their own reality.

Imagine taking hallucinogenic drugs for years. You'll start hearing and believing in what you want to. You want to believe you saw a holy spirit stopping at your door giving you presents, a virgin woman giving birth out of nowhere or that some magical unseen being is watching over you, ok that's on you now.

I think that on its most fundamental level, people look to religion for explanations for things which simply cannot be explained. Most people are uncomfortable living in a world in which many important questions have no answers, and need the assurance that religion seems to offer them.

On a personal level, it usually provides comfort and direction for those who have none, which is why most religious conversions (those not born into it) occur when someone is at a low point in life (prison, drug abuse, divorce, etc). On an organizational level, it can vary from those utilizing it as a form of control (usually political) and economic benefit, to those who are genuine believers performing charity.
There really is no one clear answer to the question, if one looks at it objectively.

i *left* religion when i hit a low point in my life. it woke me up to the realities of, well, life and that it's every man for himself.

anyway, religion is a great opiate and i believe it does work very well if you want to use it. i am happy accepting that i am no different than a cockroach i killed last year or the KFC chicken i ate two days ago. i am here today, gone tomorrow, in the words of duran duran from ordinary world which is where we are living - an ordinary world. we are *not* special. not our species, nor our planet. but religion allows us to believe that.

I think the main goal of religion is to sooth our survival instinct by allowing us to believe we can live forever.
A second goal is to give hope in situations where it's not logical to think things will turn out well.

So I think the goals of religion are not really practical so much as psychological. It is meant to ease anxiety, although as a form of informal social control it can also create a lot of anxiety.

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